20-year-old Indian student dies at his Dubai home

A graduate student of Amity University in Dubai collapsed and died on Sunday night, leaving his parents and classmates in sorrow.

Nikhil S. Warrier, 20, a second-year graduate student of Human Resources at the college was watching television after dinner at his home in the Meadows when he collapsed and died. The young boy, who has been undergoing treatment for a heart condition, had recently celebrated Onam - the harvest festival of Kerala, with his father, mother, brother and a number of relatives.

Sekhar Warrier, his uncle, said: “We are all sad that Nikhil is no more. He was watching television after dinner. At around 8.30 pm, he fell down and we immediately called an ambulance. Unfortunately, before the ambulance reached our house, he died.”

Nikhil, was a favourite student of his staff and classmates at Our Own English School in Dubai and now at Amity University. He was suffering from a heart condition since birth. However, the family was optimistic as he was responding to treatment and had almost recovered. Though he could not attend classes regularly, he always scored average marks and passed in all the subjects. According to his family, he had a ‘big heart’.

Nikhil is the second son of Sudha and Shashi Warrior, a businessman who owns Kannan Engineering in Dubai. Their elder son too died of a similar condition about 10 years ago. The family has one other boy - Gokul. The family hails from Kerala, India.

Meanwhile, his college friends said: “We are all going to attend the condolence meeting and attend his funeral. He was a perfect student…”

"Only last week, we resumed the second-year classes. We will all miss Nikhil,” said a university official.

Parishith Venugopal, who works in Kannan Engineering said: “Nikhil was a very active boy. He used to visit our company and last week we all celebrated Onam. He was very happy and excited because his grandmother and other relatives had come down for the festival.”

His body is currently kept at the police morgue. He will be cremated in Dubai.